Because you need symbols, that occupy only one 'place', for sixteen digits,
and we only have ten common numerical digits.
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The hexadecimal system.
The hexadecimal number system is one using 16 as the base instead of the more familiar ten which we use in the decimal system.
The hexadecimal number system is one using 16 as the base instead of the more familiar ten which we use in the decimal system.
This is because a number represented in hexadecimal requires fewer digits. A hexadecimal string of length s can hold a number which is approx 8^s as large as a binary string of the same length.
If you mean, for example, divide one hexadecimal number by another: In any number base, you can use basically the same method you use with decimal numbers - in the case of division, the "long division". However, you have to use the corresponding multiplication table, for example, the multiplication table for multiplying two hexadecimal digits, with a hexadecimal result.